Boy...I am not ready to go that far...

 

I agree with you Charles; me neither.

I mean to be fair he didn't inherit much. He had TBJ(276), Darrian Felix(666), CJ Verdell(444), and Cyrus Habibi-Likio(422).

 

As for what left Travis Dye(987), Byron Cardwell(190), Trey benson(375), sean Dollars(143), seven McGee(151). Technically both Dye and Verdell have one year eligibility but i have no idea who will stick around.

 

I don't think much of Mastro as a coach but you can't argue the recruited talent level at oregon isn't better than when he arrived. I also want to give him a little bit of a benefit Dye has significantly improved over his time at oregon, both in regards to not getting tripped up and his vision. 

 

 

**in parentheses is 247 national ranking for their recruited year.

We do not have any running backs like what we faced last night other than Travis Dye, IMHO.  Cardwell still has a ways to go, and it is apparent some things do not come natural to him as they do to the elite RBs.

I think Justin Hopkins needs to check into Johns Hopkins?

Oregon hasn’t had a dominant RB since 2012. And, no, I don’t put Freeman in that dominant category. He did fine with a great team around him, but he was average with an average team around him. On the other hand, LMJ, Kenyon, LGB, Jeremiah and JStew could dominate a game on their own and made their teams better. I want to put DAT in there but he was at his best in the hybrid position.

On 12/30/2021 at 10:50 AM, DrJacksPlaidPants said:

Oregon hasn’t had a dominant RB since 2012. And, no, I don’t put Freeman in that dominant category. He did fine with a great team around him, but he was average with an average team around him. On the other hand, LMJ, Kenyon, LGB, Jeremiah and JStew could dominate a game on their own and made their teams better. I want to put DAT in there but he was at his best in the hybrid position.

Yes, but none of those players were around when he came to Oregon. 

On 12/30/2021 at 2:38 PM, DanLduck said:

Yes, but none of those players were around when he came to Oregon. 

True, but Oregon as a program hasn’t recruited the RB position very well in a long time. It’s not just Mastro. 

I feel Mastro like most of the exiting staff recruited great and yes we have some talent on campus.

But, like most all position groups, that talent has not progressed since making it to campus.

 

I hope with this hire we have real coaches who can recruit. Not recruiters who try and coach.

I know Cardwell has a ways to go but I still really love his potential. In an ideal world I think he would have redshirted but this Oregon team somehow managed to win 10 games with half the roster injured at some point or another. 

 

I think with a passing game that can open up the run game we see better things out of Cardwell. 

 

And Dollars flashed some major potential last year... Sadly he sat out all this year with injuries. 

Edited December 30, 20213 yr by David Marsh

Cardwell didn't play significant role until late in the season. It was all Verdell and Dye. We all saw what happened to Verdell.  Coach him up and who knows. 

 

 As for Royce. The dude was a beast. Still in the league. One of the best RB Oregon has ever fielded. 

We have some good backs not great. We are young and I like what I see. That game last night proved one thing for sure you can’t teach size and speed. The OU skill position players were ,or looked, much bigger and faster. Maybe it was the uniform colors I don’t know.

I think there is a saying, it isn't the filling of the bucket, but the lighting of the fire which creates greatness. I give Mastro credit for filling the bucket, we now need somebody who can light the fire and help create greatness.

 

The pistol plunge put out any flame, and there was very little smoke left in the RB room at the time. Fortunately that has ended, and I look forward to the dynamic development of these young men and the addition of more!